Post
by Awq » April 29th, 2014, 8:41 pm
I am assigned the Shale Hatchling. I own multiple, but the ones I would battle with are Topaz Shale Hatchling, Tiny Shale Hatchling and the Emerald Shale Hatchling. They all share the same move set, but they come in different breeds.
I could choose my Tiny Shale Hatchling because I am attached to this version due to sentimental reasons, although its breed does not look ideal. I could choose my H/H version of the Topaz Shale Hatchling, it has the second most survivability. I could choose my P/P version of the Emerald Shale Hatchling, because it has the highest power.
Amethyst Shale Hatchling P/P & Emerald Shale Hatchling H/H could possibly be better for certain roles! I sadly do not own these versions of the pets.
The Shale Hatchling has three movesets that interest me. 1. Burn, Sticky Web, Shell Shield. 2. Leech Life, Sticky Web, Shell Shield 3. Burn, Poison Spit, Stone Rush. These three move sets play very differently from each other.
1. Burn + Shell Shield is supposed to counter pets with multi hit attacks. It can do damage, keep enemies in a match-up, while reducing their effectiveness. It should counter a wide range of pets (multi hitters+mechanicals mainly). I would choose a H/H breed for this move set.
2. The Leech Life set has the exact same role as Burn+Stoneskin, but sacrifices damage for healing. I consider this move set less versatile for PvP. I assume that the type of pets who are countered by this, are also countered when I choose Burn+Stoneskin. I will not play it.
3. Burn + Stonerush comes with one asset, great damage. I would choose a P/P breed for this move set. A P/P Shale Hatchling can do 1600 damage in 3 turns. You can put a lot of pressure on the pet that you want to remove from the match. It might allow me to control the pace of the battle. It should be useful in most match-ups. It however is suicidal.
The pets move sets are very different from each other. On one hand you have a defensive pet that can function as tank, my H/H Shale Topaz Hatchling. One the other hand I have a very offensive, although suicidal, Emerald Shale Hatchling. It might be the same pet, but it will feel completely different. I will try both pets/move sets.
Qiraji Guardling, Topaz Shale Hatchling, Spectral Porcupette
For this team I chose 3 pets with Shields. Qiraji Guardling with Sandstorm. Spectral Porcupette with Spirit Spikes. Shale Hatchling with Stoneskin. These pets cover each other weaknesses. Spectral Pocupette does Magic+Undead damage. Qiraji Guardling does Flying+Humanoid damage. Shale Hatchling does Elemental+Beast damage. Qiraji is good versus dragons, something Spectral Porcupette is weak against. Spectral Porcupette does reasonable damage against undead, something the Qiraji is weak against. Shale Hatchling is good against mechanicals, which take lesser damage from the Porcupette. Shale Hatchling si protected by the Qiraji's Sandstorm. The coverage is not perfect, but it is a start for a team!
All three pets have one thing in common: Shields. This is a team build around different types of Shield users. All 3 pets provide some utility other than their shields.
I wonder how it will go!
W Blighthawk, Dread Hatchling, Total Hare Pup; L Anubisath Idol, Anubisath Idol, Crawling Claw; W Celestial Dragon, Clockwork Rocket Bot, Wild Golden Hatchling; W Death Adder Hatchling, Death Adder Hatchling, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling; W Unborn Val'Kyr, Curious Wolvar Pup, Electrified Razortooth; L Stunted Direhorn, Jademist Dancer, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling; W Lil Bling, Dread Hatchling, Lil Ragnaros; W Death Adder hatchling, Death adder Hatchling, Death Adder Hatchling; L Unborn Val'Kyr, Death Adder hatchling, Death Adder Hatchling
My opponents were quite similar. I was planning to do more matches, to get a better feel of this teams strength. Sadly the queues died.
I started with my Qiraji versus the Blighthawk. The Qiraji is the ideal opener against every single pet versus this team. I stunned + sandstorm, and I switched to my spectral porcupette. The blighthawk would allow me to increase my speed and do effective damage with powerball. He swapped in the Dread hatchling. It did its rotation and killed itself on my Spectral Spikes. My Spectral Porcupette died too. This isnt bad. This sacrifice gives me the better match-up in endgame.So I swapped in my Qiraji Guardling again, he used his blighthawk. I stunned + Sandstorm. I swapped in my Shale Spider. He had to sacrifice his rabbit on me to get undead vs humanoid. His rabbit did not do damage because of Stoneskin+Sandstorm versus its flurry. I could web it down. He realised this and swapped in his blighthawk. My Shale Spider killed his Blighthawk and he left. Bunny vs Qiraji is a free win for me.
He sent in his Unborn Val'Kyr and I used my Qiraji Guardling. I used Stun + Sandstorm to set the weather. I switched in my porcupette to fight his Unborn. The Porcupette is good at countering both Haunt & Curse of Doom. I used powerball waiting for the Haunt to come. He did not Haunt. I wasted my Spectral Shield, because I misread his spec. The Porcupette took out the Val'Kyr. I assumed that he was Ascension spec by now, so I arranged it to kill my Porcupette the same round I activated my undead racial. I would now cast shield in preparation of the Bleed that was to come. I swapped in my Qiraji on the round of Blood in the Water. It missed. I knew that I had won. I let the Qiraji kill his E lectrified Razortooth. I swapped out the second his Wolvar Pup came in, so that my cool downs would be available again. He used Maul which still hurts even when hitting once. I got the Pup quite low. My Qiraji could clean up.
I started with my Qiraji versus his Jademist Dancer. I set up a stun + sandstorm + crush. He used Geyser. I switched in to my porcupette, to shield the stun, and because it takes lower damage. My Porcupette left his Jademist alive with literally 1 hp. He then used his dragon. I let the Qiraji take care of it. The stunted Direhorn scares me, it counters my qiraji and is strong versus my other pets. I hoped that the Stunted Direhorn would be somewhat equal against my Shale Hatchling. This wasn't the case. I switched the Shale Hatchling in, but the gamble did not pay off. I had an unlucky miss, which did not help. The Direhorn killed my three pets. I should have slowly played it out, then I would have won.
This team did okay. It is not versatile sadly. All my three pets counter opponents in the same way, with a Shield. This team does not provide a wide variety. I chose this team because I would have liked to play Qiraji+Shale Spider when Sandstorm was 10 rounds, with a working Elemental racial. I never bothered with it, because the duration of Sandstorm got reduced to 5 rounds. I still wanted to see if the team would work. The duration of Sandstorm+Shield is too short when Sandstorm is 5 rounds. There is almost no synergy between Qiraji+Shale Spider anymore, I would not put them in the same team. The team was still decent, it did counter teams with multi-attacks and it did hold its own against difficult match-ups.
The Shale Hatchling was decent with this move set. It has a Shield and it has a lot of Health. This is a dangerous combination that counters many pets. I can quite recommend this pet with these abilities. It's role is quite limited, it provides a shield and it can soak stuff AND is Elemental. Having a pet with this role can create quite an advantage.
Sadly for the Shale Hatchling there are lots of pets with high HP and shields, pets that are better in the exact same role. I would definately use this pet again if my team needed an elemental with such a move set. The pet is not great imo, but it definitely is a decent pet!
Emerald Shale Hatchling, Yu'La, Emperor Crab
W Celestial Dragon, Clockwork Rocket Bot, Wild Golden Hatchling; w Unborn Val'Kyr, Bonkers, Kovok; W Death Adder Hatchling x2, Mech Pandaren Dragonling; W Darkmoon Rabbit, Infested bear Cub, Spineclaw Crab; W Ash Spiderling, Father's Little Helper, Death talon Whelpguard; L Alterac Brewpup, Unborn Val'Kyr, Murkalot; W Unborn Val'Kyr, Death Adder Hatchling, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling; L Kovok, Spineclaw Crab, Dread Hatchling; W Clawling Claw, Unborn Val'Kyr, Creepy Crate; W Clockwork Gnome, Fossilized Hatchling, Scourged Whelpling; L Unborn Val'Kyr, Death Adder Hatchling, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling; L Rotten Little Helper, Tiny Snowman, Something; W Unborn Val'Kyr, Pandaren Water Spirit, Stitched Pup; W Anubisath idol, Clockwork Gnome, Emerald Proto-Whelp
For this team I used Stonerush. The idea of this team was to provide a wide coverage with some synergy between these pets. Yu'La could be used for swaps. Emerald Shale Hatchling provided the burst. Emperor Crab could be used for defense.
Yu'La can buff the other 2 when needed.
The Shale Hatchling is quite unique. There aren't a lot of pets that do 1600 damage in 3 turns. It is a good match-up against most pets, especially those that do not have defenses. I used the Shale Hatchling to take out the pet that my other 2 pets weren't likely to handle. I used it when I needed burst. It was a very useful pet!
It does not have any defenses and it actually hurts itself. It feels suicidal. I would not recommend swapping it in, especially without Celestial Blessing active.
The Shale Hatchling benefits from Celestial Blessing. Celestial Blessing provided advantages. The self damage from Stonerush became lower, but this was a secondary benefit. It does 1600 damage in 3 turns, Celestial Blessing is 3 turns. This allowed the Shale Hatchling to stay alive long enough to do serious damage to an enemy team. Survivability in combination with damage is a good combination.
I am glad that I was assigned this pet.
Burn+Stoneskin was decent. It counters quite a few pets with lower hits. There are other pets that perform the same role, possibly better, considering the meta game. I might occasionally use this Shale Hatchling though. I will definately go back to it, if the meta includes very strong multihitting mechanicals.
Burn+Stonerush was good. It managed to provide good damage. Its power and threat allowed for favorable matchups. I like having burst pets on somewhat defensive teams. I will definately use a P/P Shale Hatchling more often, even without Celestial Blessing.
Ceyla. You asked for more Dragonkin. I would like you to try the Silver Dragonhawk Hatchling. You own one, but it is green, low level and possibly a non-optimal breed. If you do not want to use a stone on it, or want to level it, I would recommend the Direhorn Runt (ideally Pygmy Direhorn) with its Shield!
Please assign me any BoE, or wild pet.
Really convenient is your choice of abilities in the third slot that cause the burning effect needed for Conflagrate: [ability]Flamethrower[/ability], so your opponent can't simply swap out of the Conflagrate, or [ability]Flame Breath[/ability], which leaves a DoT on the pet in the backline if he does swap out. In the first slot you have your basic choice of spam abilities: [ability]Claw[/ability], 90%hit beast damage, or [ability]Quills[/ability], 1-3 attacks flying damage. They work out to roughly the same total (if Claw doesn't miss, and Quills hits three times). Shortly: I've tried both options in first and third slots, and either way works. 